I watched:
THUNDARR THE BARBARIAN:
What did you watch?
Verily, in article <UBI20260117@dont-email.me>, did weberm@polaris.net deliver unto us this message:
I watched:
THUNDARR THE BARBARIAN:
Looks like this is on Tubi. I'll check it out, since you seem to be
enjoying it.
Verily, in article <UBI20260117@dont-email.me>, did weberm@polaris.net deliver unto us this message:
I watched:
THUNDARR THE BARBARIAN:
Looks like this is on Tubi. I'll check it out, since you seem to be
enjoying it.
What did you watch?
I watched the pilot of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy. My expectations
were so low that I ended up enjoying it. Holly Hunter is great as
Captain Nahla Ake. She's the best new captain in some time.
[snip]
What did everyone else watch?
I Am Mary Jo Buttafuoco (Lifetime) - This really didn't tell me anything
I wasn't expecting, though this was the first film in this saga from
"Mary Jo's POV", so I guess that makes it a little novel. I thought
Chloe Lanier (as Mary Jo) and Maddy Hillis (as the EVOL! would-be
murderous tart Any Fisher) did well here. I guess the one thing I didn't >know is that Mary Jo eventually became addicted to the pain-killers she
was taking to recover from the shooting and had to go into rehab. This
film did do a pretty good job at getting even with Joey Buttafuoco and >(somewhat ambivalently) portraying Maddy Hillis as a slutty, evil lil'
teen bitch!
What did you watch?
Verily, in article <UBI20260117@dont-email.me>, did weberm@polaris.net deliver unto us this message:
I watched:
THUNDARR THE BARBARIAN:
Looks like this is on Tubi. I'll check it out, since you seem to be
enjoying it.
What did you watch?
I watched the pilot of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy. My expectations
were so low that I ended up enjoying it. Holly Hunter is great as
Captain Nahla Ake. She's the best new captain in some time.
This show has too many characters. There's a whole roster of students on
top of an entire bridge crew, and most characters' names are given only once, and the upshot is that I have no idea who most of them are. That's
not unusual for a new show with a large cast, and I'll probably sort
them out if I keep watching.
The Federation appears to have fallen off from its glory days. Poverty
was solved in the TNG/DS9 era, but now it's back, and a pitiful single mother is reduced to piracy just to feed her child. IMO, more single
mothers should become pirates. The world would be more fun.
There's an implausible amount of representation. Why does the captain
have a speech impediment? Surely that's easily fixable in the far
future. Similarly, there are multiple obese people, despite Ozempic
already existing now.
Maybe we've just decided we like diversity *that*
much. Somebody created an overweight hologram, after all.
I Am Mary Jo Buttafuoco (Lifetime) - This really didn't tell me anything
I wasn't expecting, though this was the first film in this saga from
"Mary Jo's POV", so I guess that makes it a little novel. I thought
Chloe Lanier (as Mary Jo) and Maddy Hillis (as the EVOL! would-be
murderous tart Any Fisher) did well here. I guess the one thing I didn't know is that Mary Jo eventually became addicted to the pain-killers she
was taking to recover from the shooting and had to go into rehab.
On Jan 18, 2026 at 1:30:41 AM PST, "Ubiquitous" <weberm@polaris.net> wrote:
What did you watch?
I watched the first episode of STARFLEET ACADEMY out of morbid curiosity. It wasn't *as* bad as I've been reading but it sure ain't good, either. A Jem'Hadar as Number One?
I would think with an injury like that, you'd probably need pain-killers for the rest of your life, so why would being addicted to them be a problem? And if you go to rehab to get off them, are you just supposed to live with intense
chronic pain forever with no relief?
This has always been my question with regard to sex addiction, too. Assuming for the sake of argument that sex addiction is an actual thing and not just an
excuse to be a total wanton slut, the typical cure for any kind of addiction therapy is to never indulge in what you're addicted to ever again. Whether it's booze, pills, heroin, gambling, etc., you're never supposed to do it again. E.g., even taking one drink after 10 years of sobriety is considered verboten.
So how does that work with sex? Does the rehab program actually expect you to be celibate for the rest of your life and never have sex again?
And why in the actual frak does Holly Hunter think
it's a good acting choice as captain of a starship to curl up in the captain's
chair like she's in her pajamas and about to watch Netflix? And she didn't just do it once, but she does it throughout the *entire* episode. All she needed was a blanket and a bucket of popcorn to really complete the look.
Verily, in article <10kjb9q$3mflb$2@dont-email.me>, did atropos@mac.com deliver unto us this message:
And why in the actual frak does Holly Hunter thinkNow, see, I enjoyed that touch. I often sit curled up, so it humanized
it's a good acting choice as captain of a starship to curl up in the
captain's
chair like she's in her pajamas and about to watch Netflix? And she didn't >> just do it once, but she does it throughout the *entire* episode. All she >> needed was a blanket and a bucket of popcorn to really complete the look. >>
her to me, and it also showed me that she's either completely
comfortable on her bridge or indifferent to whether she stays there.
When a chair is too large, curling into it is often a comfort solution.
A too-large chair is actually worse than a couch, strange though it
seems.
Well, to be fair, it's becoming evident that Ozempic has the unfortunate side effect of blindness in a not insignificant amount of people. I think in the next ten years, we're going to hear a lot of Ozempic horror stories emerge.
Maybe we've just decided we like diversity *that*
much. Somebody created an overweight hologram, after all.
The hologram thing was nothing but a huge eyeroll. The entire concept of the character is ridiculous and then the actress they cast leaves you saying WTF? It's like they're under the mistaken impression that the Lieutenant Tilly character from DISCOVERY was awesome and they're trying to recreate that catastrophe.
On Jan 18, 2026 at 1:30:41 AM PST, "Ubiquitous" <weberm@polaris.net> wrote:
What did you watch?
I watched the first episode of STARFLEET ACADEMY out of morbid curiosity. It >wasn't *as* bad as I've been reading but it sure ain't good, either. A >Jem'Hadar as Number One? And why in the actual frak does Holly Hunter think >it's a good acting choice as captain of a starship to curl up in the captain's >chair like she's in her pajamas and about to watch Netflix? And she didn't >just do it once, but she does it throughout the *entire* episode. All she >needed was a blanket and a bucket of popcorn to really complete the look.
Then I watched THE RUNNING MAN on the Paramounts. A much more faithful >adaptation of Stephen King's novella than that Schwarzenegger abomination from >the 90s. All except the ending, which diverges significantly. Probably because >even 25 years later, it's still too soon to fly a plane into a skyscraper as a >major plot point. But overall, it was a solid movie and I'm puzzled why it >wasn't more of theatrical success.
On Jan 18, 2026 at 12:40:58 PM PST, "The True Melissa" ><thetruemelissa@gmail.com> wrote:
Verily, in article <10kjb9q$3mflb$2@dont-email.me>, did atropos@mac.com
deliver unto us this message:
And why in the actual frak does Holly Hunter thinkNow, see, I enjoyed that touch. I often sit curled up, so it humanized
it's a good acting choice as captain of a starship to curl up in the
captain's
chair like she's in her pajamas and about to watch Netflix? And she didn't >>> just do it once, but she does it throughout the *entire* episode. All she >>> needed was a blanket and a bucket of popcorn to really complete the look. >>>
her to me, and it also showed me that she's either completely
comfortable on her bridge or indifferent to whether she stays there.
It's not about *her* feelings, it's about the command presence she projects >and a captain who behaved like that on the bridge would not have the >confidence of her crew.
When a chair is too large, curling into it is often a comfort solution.
A too-large chair is actually worse than a couch, strange though it
seems.
On Jan 18, 2026 at 7:16:50 AM PST, "The True Melissa" ><thetruemelissa@gmail.com> wrote:
Verily, in article <UBI20260117@dont-email.me>, did weberm@polaris.net
deliver unto us this message:
I watched:
THUNDARR THE BARBARIAN:
Looks like this is on Tubi. I'll check it out, since you seem to be
enjoying it.
What did you watch?
I watched the pilot of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy. My expectations
were so low that I ended up enjoying it. Holly Hunter is great as
Captain Nahla Ake. She's the best new captain in some time.
Disagree. If I was serving on that ship, I'd have serious questions about my >captain's mental state if I walked onto the bridge and saw her slouching all >overt the captain's chair or sitting with her legs curled up under her as if >she's about to take a nap.
This show has too many characters. There's a whole roster of students on
top of an entire bridge crew, and most characters' names are given only
once, and the upshot is that I have no idea who most of them are. That's
not unusual for a new show with a large cast, and I'll probably sort
them out if I keep watching.
The Federation appears to have fallen off from its glory days. Poverty
was solved in the TNG/DS9 era, but now it's back, and a pitiful single
mother is reduced to piracy just to feed her child. IMO, more single
mothers should become pirates. The world would be more fun.
There's an implausible amount of representation. Why does the captain
have a speech impediment? Surely that's easily fixable in the far
future. Similarly, there are multiple obese people, despite Ozempic
already existing now.
Well, to be fair, it's becoming evident that Ozempic has the unfortunate side >effect of blindness in a not insignificant amount of people. I think in the >next ten years, we're going to hear a lot of Ozempic horror stories emerge.
Maybe we've just decided we like diversity *that*
much. Somebody created an overweight hologram, after all.
The hologram thing was nothing but a huge eyeroll. The entire concept of the >character is ridiculous and then the actress they cast leaves you saying WTF? >It's like they're under the mistaken impression that the Lieutenant Tilly >character from DISCOVERY was awesome and they're trying to recreate that >catastrophe.
On Sun, 18 Jan 2026 19:20:09 -0000 (UTC), BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com>
wrote:
On Jan 18, 2026 at 7:16:50 AM PST, "The True Melissa"
<thetruemelissa@gmail.com> wrote:
Verily, in article <UBI20260117@dont-email.me>, did weberm@polaris.net >>> deliver unto us this message:
I watched:
THUNDARR THE BARBARIAN:
Looks like this is on Tubi. I'll check it out, since you seem to be
enjoying it.
What did you watch?
I watched the pilot of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy. My expectations
were so low that I ended up enjoying it. Holly Hunter is great as
Captain Nahla Ake. She's the best new captain in some time.
Disagree. If I was serving on that ship, I'd have serious questions about my >> captain's mental state if I walked onto the bridge and saw her slouching all >> overt the captain's chair or sitting with her legs curled up under her as if >> she's about to take a nap.
I like her as an actress. She has a great presence that is likely to
draw in viewers. That said, the choices made don't work well in her
role as a captain like curling up in the captain's chair.
This show has too many characters. There's a whole roster of students on >>> top of an entire bridge crew, and most characters' names are given only >>> once, and the upshot is that I have no idea who most of them are. That's >>> not unusual for a new show with a large cast, and I'll probably sort
them out if I keep watching.
The Federation appears to have fallen off from its glory days. Poverty >>> was solved in the TNG/DS9 era, but now it's back, and a pitiful single >>> mother is reduced to piracy just to feed her child. IMO, more single
mothers should become pirates. The world would be more fun.
There's an implausible amount of representation. Why does the captain
have a speech impediment? Surely that's easily fixable in the far
future. Similarly, there are multiple obese people, despite Ozempic
already existing now.
Well, to be fair, it's becoming evident that Ozempic has the unfortunate side
effect of blindness in a not insignificant amount of people. I think in the >> next ten years, we're going to hear a lot of Ozempic horror stories emerge. >>
Maybe we've just decided we like diversity *that*
much. Somebody created an overweight hologram, after all.
The hologram thing was nothing but a huge eyeroll. The entire concept of the >> character is ridiculous and then the actress they cast leaves you saying WTF?
It's like they're under the mistaken impression that the Lieutenant Tilly
character from DISCOVERY was awesome and they're trying to recreate that
catastrophe.
I don't have a problem with the idea of the character. I do have a
problem with them sending a character that is apparently no more than
four years old off to the academy. Even with it being a created
personality it's clear that they are going with the idea that she's a
very inexperienced character. Would have made more sense for her to be
much older and experienced before being sent off to the academy.
It's not about *her* feelings, it's about the command presence she projects and a captain who behaved like that on the bridge would not have the confidence of her crew.
Or, given that her entire being is programmed from the start, why not just program her with all the knowledge and experience of a Starfleet officer and skip the academy altogether?
Verily, in article <10kjk2i$3ppkr$1@dont-email.me>, did atropos@mac.com deliver unto us this message:
Or, given that her entire being is programmed from the start, why not just >> program her with all the knowledge and experience of a Starfleet officer andShe was programmed to feel seventeen and then age from there, according
skip the academy altogether?
to her conversation with the Doctor.
I forgot to mention, not only is a Jem'Hadar serving as a Starfleet officer, >but it's apparently female.
DS9 established that the Jem'Hadar are sexless. They appear masculine because >of their genetically-enhanced warrior physique (and, let's face it, the male >actors who play them) but they have no sex. So why does this one appear female >and even have boobs? There would be no biological function for breasts on a >Jem'Hadar. The species doesn't reproduce sexually, so there would be no need >to nurse the young, nor would they function as a visual sexual attractant for >mates, like they do with humans.
. . .
On Jan 18, 2026 at 2:07:41 PM PST, "The True Melissa" <thetruemelissa@gmail.com> wrote:
Verily, in article <10kjk2i$3ppkr$1@dont-email.me>, did atropos@mac.com deliver unto us this message:
Or, given that her entire being is programmed from the start, why not justShe was programmed to feel seventeen and then age from there, according
program her with all the knowledge and experience of a Starfleet officer and
skip the academy altogether?
to her conversation with the Doctor.
Yes, but why?
Why purposely create her so that she needs to take up time, resources, and a seat at the academy which could go to someone else who actually needs it when they don't have to?
Verily, in article <10kjo22$3rf1u$1@dont-email.me>, did atropos@mac.com deliver unto us this message:
On Jan 18, 2026 at 2:07:41 PM PST, "The True Melissa"
<thetruemelissa@gmail.com> wrote:
Verily, in article <10kjk2i$3ppkr$1@dont-email.me>, did atropos@mac.com >> > deliver unto us this message:
Or, given that her entire being is programmed from the start, why not justShe was programmed to feel seventeen and then age from there, according >> > to her conversation with the Doctor.
program her with all the knowledge and experience of a Starfleet
officer and
skip the academy altogether?
Yes, but why?
Why purposely create her so that she needs to take up time, resources, and a
seat at the academy which could go to someone else who actually needs it
when
they don't have to?
Apparently there's a whole planet of "photonics" now. I suppose they
wanted to simulate the society which created them, so they made kid holograms.
This is one of the perpetually aggravating things about Trek, right from
the beginning. Every other kind of entity, no matter how fascinatingly exotic it may seem at first, is really exactly like Earth-humans.
On Jan 19, 2026 at 3:48:51 AM PST, "The True Melissa" <thetruemelissa@gmail.com> wrote:
Verily, in article <10kjo22$3rf1u$1@dont-email.me>, did atropos@mac.com
deliver unto us this message:
On Jan 18, 2026 at 2:07:41 PM PST, "The True Melissa"
<thetruemelissa@gmail.com> wrote:
Verily, in article <10kjk2i$3ppkr$1@dont-email.me>, did atropos@mac.com >>>> deliver unto us this message:
Or, given that her entire being is programmed from the start, why not justShe was programmed to feel seventeen and then age from there, according >>>> to her conversation with the Doctor.
program her with all the knowledge and experience of a Starfleet
officer and
skip the academy altogether?
Yes, but why?
Why purposely create her so that she needs to take up time, resources, and a
seat at the academy which could go to someone else who actually needs it >>> when
they don't have to?
Apparently there's a whole planet of "photonics" now. I suppose they
wanted to simulate the society which created them, so they made kid
holograms.
This is one of the perpetually aggravating things about Trek, right from
the beginning. Every other kind of entity, no matter how fascinatingly
exotic it may seem at first, is really exactly like Earth-humans.
Another thing that made no sense was the whole "spaceship academy docking with
the land academy" thing.
Why does the ship need to land and dock? They not only have transporters, they
have the new-fangled transporters that are built into their com badges and which apparently are psychically linked to the person's mind because they're all constantly just slapping their lapels and somehow the thing knows exactly where to beam them.
The academy students could easily stand up when the bell rings in their tachyon theory class down in San Francisco, slap their combadge and instantaneously be zapped up to the ship and into their exobiology class in literal milliseconds. So why go to all the trouble to build a docking station for the ship in San Francisco? Just leave it in orbit and have the staff and students beam up and down as necessary.
On Jan 18, 2026 at 7:16:50 AM PST, "The True Melissa" <thetruemelissa@gmail.com> wrote:
There's an implausible amount of representation. Why does the captain
have a speech impediment? Surely that's easily fixable in the far
future. Similarly, there are multiple obese people, despite Ozempic
already existing now.
Well, to be fair, it's becoming evident that Ozempic has the unfortunate side effect of blindness in a not insignificant amount of people. I think in the next ten years, we're going to hear a lot of Ozempic horror stories emerge.
Why does the ship need to land and dock? They not only have transporters, they
have the new-fangled transporters that are built into their com badges and which apparently are psychically linked to the person's mind because they're all constantly just slapping their lapels and somehow the thing knows exactly where to beam them.
BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:
On Jan 19, 2026 at 3:48:51 AM PST, "The True Melissa"And they left the engines in orbit.
<thetruemelissa@gmail.com> wrote:
Verily, in article <10kjo22$3rf1u$1@dont-email.me>, did atropos@mac.com >>> deliver unto us this message:
On Jan 18, 2026 at 2:07:41 PM PST, "The True Melissa"
<thetruemelissa@gmail.com> wrote:
Verily, in article <10kjk2i$3ppkr$1@dont-email.me>, did atropos@mac.com >>>>> deliver unto us this message:
Or, given that her entire being is programmed from the start, why not justShe was programmed to feel seventeen and then age from there, according >>>>> to her conversation with the Doctor.
program her with all the knowledge and experience of a Starfleet
officer and
skip the academy altogether?
Yes, but why?
Why purposely create her so that she needs to take up time, resources, and a
seat at the academy which could go to someone else who actually needs it >>>> when
they don't have to?
Apparently there's a whole planet of "photonics" now. I suppose they
wanted to simulate the society which created them, so they made kid
holograms.
This is one of the perpetually aggravating things about Trek, right from >>> the beginning. Every other kind of entity, no matter how fascinatingly >>> exotic it may seem at first, is really exactly like Earth-humans.
Another thing that made no sense was the whole "spaceship academy docking >> with
the land academy" thing.
Why does the ship need to land and dock? They not only have transporters, >> they
have the new-fangled transporters that are built into their com badges and >> which apparently are psychically linked to the person's mind because they're
all constantly just slapping their lapels and somehow the thing knows
exactly
where to beam them.
The academy students could easily stand up when the bell rings in their
tachyon theory class down in San Francisco, slap their combadge and
instantaneously be zapped up to the ship and into their exobiology class in >> literal milliseconds. So why go to all the trouble to build a docking
station
for the ship in San Francisco? Just leave it in orbit and have the staff and
students beam up and down as necessary.
Years later everyone seems to be of the idea that this was unconscionable and morally inexcusable. That Orphan Black mom should have been given a free pass on murder or something because she has a child. I guess single moms can literally do anything they want-- break any law-- and no punishment can be imposed because it would separate them from their child.
Verily, in article <10ktufl$3975f$5@dont-email.me>, did atropos@mac.com deliver unto us this message:
Years later everyone seems to be of the idea that this was unconscionable >> andIMO, they were trying to be slightly more nuanced. She wasn't wrong to sentence the mother, who did deserve it, but it still sucked for Caleb,
morally inexcusable. That Orphan Black mom should have been given a free
pass
on murder or something because she has a child. I guess single moms can
literally do anything they want-- break any law-- and no punishment can be >> imposed because it would separate them from their child.
who *didn't* deserve it.
It's interesting that poverty appears to have returned, after previously having been stamped out.
In that show, the USS Discovery leaps 930 years into the future and finds the Federation basically shattered and the known galaxy in chaos. This was all due
to an event called "the Burn", where every ship in the galaxy that had a warp core exploded at the same time and not only killed millions but left the worlds of the Federation with no way to travel, trade, or even communicate with one another without faster-than-light capability.
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